According to conventional Internet techniques, multiple service points (server points for processing data requests) are generally adopted for load-balancing because a single server has limited computing capabilities and cannot handle a large amount of data requests at the same time. For example, multiple service points may be deployed according to geographical areas, e.g., a service point is deployed in each province, and each service point processes data requests initiated by users from the area where the service point locates.
In the conventional multi-service point load-balancing scheme, users are served by respective dedicated service points, and user data of users is also stored in respective service points, and users served by different service points usually can not directly communicate with each other. For example, in an online game, game players in different service zones are not able to play the game together in the same game process (players served by the same server can play the game together in the same game process).
In order to enable cross-server exchange of user data, a user may need to change its serving service point. According to a conventional mechanism, when user 1 served by service point A has the need of exchanging data with user 2 served by service point B, user 1 is required to fill out an application form to apply for changing a service point. Then an administrator modifies a configuration file to change the serving service point of user 1 from service point A into service point B, and transfers user data of user 1 from service pint A to service point B. After user 1 finishes data exchange with user 2 via service point B, user 1 has to fill out another application form, and the administrator performs the same operations again to change the serving service point of user 1 back to be service point A and transfer user data of user 1 to service point A.
Therefore, in the conventional method of changing service points, users have to fill out application forms applying for changing the service points, and the applications need to be approved by an administrator. After determining the application forms are correctly filled, the administrator modifies the configuration file manually to re-configure the serving service points of the users. The changing process cannot be completed in real time.